One of the hundreds of modern buildings on the said land
Occupants of land said to belong to the Animal Research Institute (ARI) in Accra have appealed to the government to have them regularise the lands.
Their plea comes on the backdrop of the threat to demolish houses they have been occupying for many years now.
The lands are located in the Adentan Municipality in Accra, where the Greater Accra Regional Minister Henry Quartey recently visited to assess the situation.
Having built already on the said lands, they want to live in their houses peacefully without the stressful situation they now find themselves.
According to the residents, though the land was acquired by the government for the ARI from some families in Accra, it was later sold by some family members who owned the land to them for development.
Alhaji Moli Abdul Kadir, the chairman of the Adentan Municipal Council of Zongo chiefs and also the Dagomba Zongo Chief of Ashaley Botwe, said the best way for them to live peacefully was to have their ownership regularised by government.
He said, “we will appeal to government to regularise our stay on the Animal Research Institute lands to enable us to live peacefully else once the lands are released to the families there will be confusion on the land and we don’t know what will even happen between us and the families who own the land here. We are living on these lands without titles, something which can only be done by government intervention.”
According to him, having lived on the land since late 1990s, several families from Nungua, Adenta, Frafraha, Teshie, Ashiyie, among others periodically visit the area claiming to own some portions of the lands in the area.
Another resident, Edmund, popularly known as 2020, who spoke to DAILY GUIDE reiterated that to avoid any disturbances between the residents and families who owned the land, the government should expedite action regularising their stay considering the number of years some people had lived there.
The Animal Research Institute is about 1,000 acres in size, originally owned by the people of Nungua, with the initial development starting about 22 years ago.
The ARI land is located between Lakeside and Regimanuel, close to the Adenta Housing Down, with a population of about 4,000.
The community is made up of about 3,500 completed structures, with about 16 schools.
The community also has three mosques, a number of churches, a clinic and a place earmarked for station for commercial vehicles in future.
There have been speculations about a possible demolition, but considering the investment already on the said land, such a move has been described in some quarters as an action with negative consequences on many lives.
Some of the houses are owned by Ghanaians in the diaspora, and others by citizens residing in them with their families.
By Ebenezer Amponsah